Improvement in tops for children s carriages



G. E. WHITMORE.

TOPS FOR CHILDRENS CARRIAGES.

Patented March '7; 1876.

% ,7 Zak/24 NPETERS, PHOTOUTHOGRAFHER WASHINGTON, C! C,

IMPROVEMENT IN TOPS FOR CHILDRENS CARRIAGES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 174,601, dated March 7,1876; application filed January 17, 1876.

v To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. WHIT- MORE, of New Haven, in the county ofNew Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Canopy-Top forChildrens Carriages; and I do hereby declare the following, when takenin connection with the accompanying drawings and the letters ofreference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description ofthe same, and which said drawings constitute part of thisspecitication,and represent a side view with the top turned to the front and rear inbroken lines.

This invention relates to an improvement in what are called canopy-topsfor childrens carriages that is to say, a top so hinged to the body thatit may be turned from the extreme front to the extreme rear, and securedin those or in any intermediate positions, the object being to turn thecanopy, so that in turning from its vertical position to either front orrear the lowest edge of the canopy in falling will approach the body,While that edge which is uppermost will recede, and so that when ateither extreme the canopy approaches nearly a vertical position; and itconsists in a pair of braces, the lower end of one of which is hinged tothe body at one side of a vertical line, the upper end hinged to thecanopy upon the opposite side of said vertical line, and the secondbrace hinged to the canopy upon the opposite side of the vertical line,to which the other brace is hinged, and the lower end of the said secondbrace hinged in a horizontal slot in the body, and a vertical slot inthe first brace crossing the said horizontal slot, the pivot upon whichthe second brace is hinged working in both of the said slots, all asmore fully hereinafter described.

A is the body, which may be of any desirable or known style, and mountedupon the running-gear in the usual manner. B is the canopy, which mayalso be of any of the usual or known forms. C is the principal brace,its lower end hinged to the body at a point, a, one side of the verticalcentral line d 61, here shown as to a plate, D, the upper end hinged tothe canopy at a point, 6, upon the opposite side of the said verticalline, and curved from the hinged point a toward the center, so as tosubstantially strike the vertical line at a point, f, for the purposehereinafter described. E is the second brace,

hinged to the canopy at it, upon the opposite side of the vertical line,to which the braceO is hinged. This brace extends down to the point f inthe principal brace. At this point a horizontal slot, 'n, is formed inthe body or supporting-plate, and a vertical slot, m, in the principalbrace 0, so that the two slots cross each other at or near the saidvertical line, and through these two slots a stud, r, is placed,securing the brace E, and forming, as it were, a hinge-joint for thatbrace.---- This stud may be provided witha thumb-nut or otherconvenience for tightening the joint and preventing the braces frombeing turned.

Thus constructed, the point a forms the fixed turning-point for thecanopy, and, turning to the rear, the stud 1' follows the horizontalslot, at the same time working upward through the slot in the brace,sothat the brace E is throwing the front of the canopy back faster thanthe brace 0; hence, the canopy is gradually approaching a perpendicularposition, the canopy turning upon the hinge c of the brace 0, so thatthe falling edge approaches the body as the upper edge recedes. Turningin the opposite direction, the stud r follows the horizontal slot a, butfalls, or runs down the slot m in the principal brace; hence,

the brace E draws the front or falling edge of the canopy toward thebody, the canopy turning on the hinge 0, so that the upper edge recedesfrom the carriage as the lower edge approaches it, and thus inclining tothe vertical position forward.

By means of the clamping screw or nut on the stud r, the canopy may beset at either of its two extremes, or at any intermediate point.

As here represented, the main brace O is hinged to the body forward ofthe vertical line; but it will be understood that this may be reversedby correspondingly reversing the upper ends of the two braces. It willalso be understood that duplicate braces are arranged upon the oppositeside.

I claim The combination of the principal brace O and auxiliary brace E,their upper end hinged tached to the body, the pivot of the brace E tothe canopy upon opposite sides of a verpassing through and working inboth said tical central line, the principal brace hinged slots,substantially as (described.

to the body at a point on the opposite side of E. WHITMORE. said line,to which its upper end is hinged to Witnesses: the canopy, and. avertical slot, m, in. the prin- JOHN E. EARLE,

cipal brace, and a horizontal slot, n, in or at- (F/LARA BROUGHTON.

